Town ready to kick up fuss over horses

CROMWELL -- Town officials have confirmed that a number of horses are illegally being kept at a South Street residence, and are now waiting for the town attorney to render a legal opinion about what can be done to either remove the animals or remedy

JIM HICKEY

Published
1:00 am EST, Thursday, October 31, 2002

"We know the horses are there, there is no doubt," said First Selectman Stan Terry. "Now we are just waiting for a legal opinion about what the best course of action is."

Several town officials, including Zoning Enforcement Officer Fred Curtain and Health Inspector Thomas Armentano, have visited the property at 95 South St., the home of Ronald and Candice Wing, and have seen the horses on the property.

According to the town's regulations, horses need be kept on three acres of non-wetlands, and only then by way of a special permit issued by the town's Planning and Zoning Commission, for which the Wings have not applied. The Wing's property is only around 2.3 acres, much of which officials feel it too wet and swampy for keeping a horse.

Mrs. Wing doesn't hide the fact that she has two horses on her property, saying earlier this month that she has kept the animals on her land for several years. She said that the horses are healthy and are given the proper care, and questions why town officials would get involved in the first place. She feels the town has no right to take the horses away.

But, in addition to the town ordinance banning horses in residential areas, officials are also worried about the horses' health and well-being. Officials don't believe Mrs. Wing's assertion that the horses have remained on the property the past few years, and feel the horses were removed from the property and brought back only recently, in a violation of town ordinances.

The issues of horses in residential areas came to a head in 1996, when several residents threatened to sue the town after several building permits for horse barns were granted. Town officials then adopted more stringent regulations requiring a special permit for horses to be kept in residential areas. Most residents that already owned horses were grandfathered under the older ordinance, which allowed for horses on properties under three acres.

But town officials ruled that the Wing's horses could not be grandfathered, because the Wings had sent one of their horses to a local petting zoo where it was made available to the public for rides, and was given free food and care in return. Because the horse had been removed, the town ruled that Wings were no longer covered under old ordinances, and issued a cease-and-desist order that effectively mandated the horses be removed.

The town also ruled that, because the Wings had brought the second horse to their property before the new ordinance went into effect, it hadn't been there long enough to be an established pre-existing use.

The Wings appealed the cease-and-desist order before the Zoning Board of Appeals, but the board upheld the order. The couple then appealed the order in Middlesex Superior Court on the grounds that it was "unjust, unreasonable or arbitrary." That appeal was denied.

After the appeal was denied, the issue largely went away. The animals were believed to have been removed, and officials didn't receive any complaints for several years.

Town Attorney Jack Bradley confirmed on Wednesday he had received a report that the horses were being kept at the Wing's residence, but he was unable to discuss legal options. Other officials speculated that the town could order another cease-and-desist order, fine the Wings, or pursue other legal options.